


Go-Back Stubbornness

by Servena



Category: Elfquest
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, M/M, Multi, Original Character Death(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-26
Updated: 2016-08-26
Packaged: 2018-08-27 19:01:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8412991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Servena/pseuds/Servena
Summary: “Does it bother you? That he might not be your son?”





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Sommerchallenge 2016.

“Yeah, he’s Skot’s, all right”, Pike said one evening as he watched Sust trying to climb on Stubtail’s back and being thrown off into the high grass for at least the tenth time tonight. He shook his head in amusement.  “No elf with a drop of wolfrider blood would try to make a Tuftcat his wolf friend.”

Next to him, Clearbrook was sitting on a rock and sharpening her hunting knife as she watched the scene unfold in front of her. She smiled when Sust ran after the Tuftcat to try again. “Your son is not easily discouraged.”

“Go-Back stubbornness”, he said with a grin. “Think he got it from two sides.”

They both watched as Stubtail rolled onto his back to prevent any further riding attempts.

“Does it bother you?” Clearbrook asked suddenly, but with a gentleness in her voice. “That he might not be yours?”

Surprised, Pike turned to look at her. Krim had never once asked him that question, but then, she was a Go-Back. A lot of Go-Backs didn’t know who their real father was.

He shrugged. “It doesn’t bother me. He is my son, whether he’s my blood or not. Just like Cutter and Skywise are brothers.”

She smiled and nodded. “Brothers in all but blood indeed.”

“Actually”, Pike added after a moment of thought, “it makes me kind of happy. It makes me feel like part of him is still with us. And he did want to father at least one child before he died, after all.”

Clearbrook tested the sharpness of the blade by moving a finger over it carefully and then slid it back into the scabbard. “You still miss him.” It wasn’t a question.

He sighed. “I try not to. I know it was what he wanted. It’s the goal of every Go-Back to die gloriously in battle.”

“He was very brave”, she said softly. “He saved our lives, mine and Treestump’s.” She continued, “But it’s all right to miss him. He was your lifemate and you loved him.”

He sniffed and wiped his hand over his eyes. “Does it ever stop?”

She shook her head gently. “Never. But the pain will shrink next to all the good memories.” She rose up. “Walk with me”, she said, and he followed her up to the peak of howling rock, away from the others. The two moons were rising up in in the night sky and their soft light was reflected on Clearbrook’s silver braided hair. They sat down on the bare rock near the edge.

After a moment, Clearbrook started talking. “When One-Eye died, I was mad with grief. All I wanted was to lay down beside him in the snow and die as well. But Cutter saved me, and after a while, I could appreciate that he did.”

“It has to be even worse when you’re recognized”, Pike mumbled.

She shook her head and smiled. “Losing someone you love is always painful. And living in the Now does not mean you cannot grief. It means to find solace in the present, so that you can go on. ”

“Wow”, he breathed. “I wonder if we all become so wise once we get to be as old as you?” He grinned.

She chuckled. “I guess you’ll have to keep on living and find out.”

They stayed for a little longer and watched the moons rise high into the night sky in comfortable silence.

When they came back down from the top, Sust came running around a rock and almost ran into them. “Woah, slow down!” Pike called out and managed to catch him.

“Have you seen Stubtail?” the boy asked, face red with exhaustion. “I want to try again!”

“Again?” Pike chuckled. “Aren’t you tired?”

“No, I want to try again!” He wriggled out of his arms and with that he was off.

“I bet that tuftcat is tired of him”, a voice said behind him. When he turned around, Krim was standing there with her arms crossed.

They both looked after their son as he disappeared between the rocks.

“Go-Back stubbornness”, Pike just said.

She grinned. “You knew what you were getting into.”

“Yeah.” He shook his head. “I knew.”

When they lay in the furs later and Pike listened to Krim’s deep breathing, he thought he understood what Clearbrook had meant.


End file.
